For the snowclone files: "What is this 'X'...?"

[Mullins, Bill]

Reaching back a ways . . . .

>From Seinfeld:


"Let me ask you... What will you do if Martin wakes up?  Run
 away like a mouse?"
    "No, more like the three stooges at the end of every movie."
"Who are these stooges you speak of?"
    "They're a comedy team."
"Tell me about them--everything."
    "Well, they're three kinda funny-looking guys and they hit
     each other a lot."
"You will show me these stooges?"
    "I vill show you da stooges." (With fake accent)
"When?"
    "Well, I don't really know where the stooges are right now
     but if I locate them you'll be the first to know."
                   - Jerry and Gina, in "The Suicide"



> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Benjamin Zimmer
> Sent: Friday, June 24, 2005 2:12 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: For the snowclone files: "What is this 'X'...?"
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
> Subject:      For the snowclone files: "What is this 'X'...?"
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> For Arnold and any other snowclone connoisseurs out there...
> I recently noticed a snowclone with two basic variants:
>
> "What is this 'X' (that) you speak of?"
> "What is this 'X' of which you speak?"
>
> One can find examples all the way back to the early days of Usenet:
>
> -----
> http://groups-beta.google.com/group/net.misc/msg/da67fe94b296df17
> net.misc - Aug 24 1983, 1:06 pm
> There has been a lot of net discussion about "toilet paper"
> recently. Just what is this "toilet paper" of which you
> speak?  Where can I find it?
> -----
>
> The origin seems to be in the collective memory of big-screen
> and small-screen science fiction from the '50s and '60s. It
> has the sound of a cliched line spoken by an alien to a human
> exploring other planets (often the vocative "earthling" is
> appended). In such "first contact" scenes, aliens can of
> course speak perfect English yet lack certain key concepts
> and their associated significations, which the humans can
> then explain.
> (It's also possible to imagine the line spoken in intra-human
> settings involving time travel, lost tribes, unfrozen cavemen, etc.)
>
> The fronted version with "...of which you speak" adds an
> extra component of alien formality (cf. Yoda's inverted
> syntax, as discussed on Language Log). I haven't found any
> firm evidence that either version was actually used in
> classic sci-fi on film or TV.
>
> Closely related to this snowclone is the line, "'Kiss'? What
> is 'kiss'?"-- emblematic of campy interplanetary romance,
> which of course is invariably between a male human and a
> female alien. (It was a favorite catchphrase of the crew on
> _Mystery Science Theater 3000_.) The line is often attributed
> to Altaira (Anne Francis) in _The Forbidden Planet_ (1956) or
> to one of Kirk's conquests in the original series of _Star
> Trek_.  This was investigated on the rec.arts.sf.tv
> newsgroup, and they've ruled out _The Forbidden Planet_ and
> _Star Trek_:
>
> http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.tv/browse_frm/
thread/ac73f4fe4affc423
>
>